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Rat Salad – less impressionists more tribute

Some tribute bands spend a lot of time trying to look and act just like their idols, so much so that they become impressionists. Not so Rat Salad who appeared at The Lord Nelson on Poole Quay on a wet and windy Friday night.

Undeterred by the smallish crowd, some of whom had obviously been put off by the apocolytic weather forecasts Rat Salad gave us a superb set full of their favourite numbers from metalistas Black Sabbath.

Perhaps as a result of the thin crowd or maybe the damp was getting into their bones the opening few songs starting with ‘Paranoid’ was somewhat lacklustre and it took a while for the band to warm up however before long the tunes started to flow and the crowd ventured in from the smoking area to listen.

It’s always great to see a craftsman who enjoys his work and frontman Zac Thompson certainly falls into this category. A great voice brings to life with vigor all your favourites and a particularly good rendition of ‘Sabbath bloody sabbath’ certainly impressed as did Iron Man. The second half of the set, given over to later sabbath stuff was good but clearly it’s the early Sabbath tracks that they particularly enjoy.

Honourable mention needs to be made of drummer Carl Wilson’s superb solo towards the end of the first set. He was particularly proud of his brand new cowbell.

Overall the band did justice to some well known tracks and dusted off some that only keen fans of Sabbath might know but their obvious passion and musical adeptness certainly made for a great night of metal.

If you see Rat Salad on a blackboard near you then go on in – you’re sure to enjoy.